Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Michael Oren (Kulanu) attended the Katif Conference in memory of the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza.

During the Disengagement, 8,500 Jews were expelled from the towns they had built, industries they had established and the homes they had lived in for decades, moving tot the area with the encouragement of the Rabin government. The Gaza Strip was completely emptied of Jews save for those held prisoner by the Hamas terrorist organization.

Minister Oren said that the Disengagement was more traumatic than military combat for him:

"I've been in the Israeli army for about 35 years. I was a paratrooper throughout most of it, participated in Israel's wars. There was no single event in which I participated in my military capacity more traumatic than the Disengagement."

"It was actually worse than combat," he continued. "The actual notion of taking Jews out of their homes while they are mourning, while they are crying, while they are praying to G-d, was something that was deeply disturbing to me and remains so to this day."